Warhammer 40,000 is one of the oldest science fiction gaming properties around, delighting fans of table top and video gaming since 1987. 27 years later, Canadian studio Behaviour Interactive is developing the game all Warhammer 40,000 fans have longed for: Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade. A massively multiplayer online action game, Eternal Crusade places players in direct control of their favourite races and classes in a massive alien world, enabling Warhammer 40,000 fans to finally partake in those massive battles that only existed in their imagination when playing the table top.

In the not too distant future, Behaviour will release their first alpha modules, giving pre-order customers a taste of the finished product’s massive battles in a six-versus-six multiplayer mode. If gamers prefer to wait and see, Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade can be played for free in the Free-to-Waaagh mode when the game officially launches, which casts free players as Orks with some game options disabled. If players of Free-to-Waaagh like the game, but don’t want to pay the full game price for other classes and features, they can unlock missing Ork options with micro-transactions.

As development progresses, Behaviour will be integrating a cornucopia of NVIDIA GameWorks technologies, bolstering visual fidelity considerably. These ready-made, advanced graphics features enable developers like Behaviour to divert time and resources to the creation of the games themselves, rather than to the development of effects that already exist, which are continually expanded and improved upon by our crack team of in-house graphics experts.

This laser-focus on technology has led to the release of HBAO+ Ambient Occlusion, TXAA Anti-Aliasing, GPU accelerated NVIDIA PhysX, NVIDIA HairWorks, NVIDIA PostWorks, NVIDIA ShadowWorks, NVIDIA FaceWorks, and other GameWorks effects that are all recognised as industry leaders in their respective fields. From this expansive list, Behaviour intends to integrate as many technologies as possible into Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, making Eternal Crusade a graphical extravaganza when it officially launches.

Examples of many GameWorks technologies can already be found in Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Call of Duty: Ghosts, to name but a few, and we cannot wait to see them up and running in Eternal Crusade’s massively multiplayer world. With alien worlds, NVIDIA HairWorks can create vast fields of dynamic, stylized grass; PhysX creates realistic particle effects that react in real-time; APEX can power reactive, realistic clothing; HBAO+ can accurately shadow and shade every object and surface; and FaceWorks can bring Orks to life like never before.

“NVIDIA’s GameWorks is the most robust and feature complete toolset for game development we have ever seen. Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade needs to be close as we can get to the reality of war in the 41st Millennium, and none of that will be possible without GameWorks’ help. From the PhysX package down to TXAA, NVIDIA’s toolset is going to help us make sure that Eternal Crusade stands toe-to-toe with the most visually stunning games on the market”.

We’ll be bringing you more news and announcements about Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade’s GameWorks enhancements as development progresses, but in the meantime make sure you stay tuned to the game’s official website for news, screenshots, videos, and weekly development livestreams.